


Déjà Vu

by Tinkerbun



Series: An Unexpected Guest-verse [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alcoholic Quentin Beck, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Male Affection, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character Death, Multi, Multiverse, Mysterio Has Real Powers, Parent Quentin Beck, Peter Angst, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Quentin Beck, Protective Tony Stark, Quentin Beck Is A Good Guy, Tony Angst, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, non-toxic masculinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 15:22:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20066230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinkerbun/pseuds/Tinkerbun
Summary: **** THIS WORK CONTAINS COMPLETE AND BLATANT SPOILERS FOR END GAME AND SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME!!!Quentin Beck was a man who had it all, lost it all, and then the universe decided to rinse and repeat.This is a supplemental piece to my fic "An Unexpected Guest", an alternate universe where Quentin Beck was never a villain and Tony Stark never died, but in the end neither were truly spared.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Thanks so much for checking this work out!! I honestly HIGHLY suggest reading this after chapter 6 of An Unexpected Guest and NOT before; there are a couple things I wrote in that fic to foreshadow (or postshadow?) this and it'll honestly flow much better.  
I took a lot of time to grind this out and post all at once, so please please leave some comments so I know you're all still out there :)
> 
> ALSO I have decided good Mysterio's name is MysteriBro, it is law now

“You work here, right, kid?”

Decked out in Stark Industries gear, Quentin Beck knew that wasn’t a genuine question, but Tony Stark expected an answer.

“Yes sir, been here a while. Came in as an intern when I started college.” 

Tony remained uninterested in looking at him, staring lazily at the elevator door as they waited for the descent. “Oh yeah? Where’d you go? I’m an MIT guy myself.” Beck nodded back with a slight smile and said, “And yours truly. But I personally think they could do with an on-campus bar. It was a little boring remembering what I studied every weekend.”

Now that got Tony’s attention. Not the school, but that an employee had spoken back to him so casually instead of stuttering to make conversation. He turned his head to the lighter brunette, Tony tipping his head down so he could look at Quentin above his sunglasses.

“Oh yeah? And how do you like it here? Not bad enough to run out the door once you got the resume perk, huh?” Tony said sarcastically, knowing that there was a good chunk of his workers who developed cold feet once he announced his identity as Iron Man last month and decided to drop out of the market of dealing arms. Beck grinned and bit his lip, shaking his head slightly before turning his torso to face Tony directly, the intensity of his piercing blue eyes really sinking in.

“Actually, Mr. Stark,” he said playfully, shoulders relaxed and hands comfortably in his pockets, “With the recent developments and the company’s ‘change in mission’, I’ve got some ideas.” Smirk dancing across his face, Tony couldn’t help but ask what that was.

“I want to develop an augmented reality suitable for therapeutic purposes. Being able to project and re-experience traumatic events- not rewriting memories, but just experiencing it in a way that may bring closure to people. Some heavy duty hologram work maybe.”

Tony’s smile didn’t waiver, but his eyes sharpened, face growing more serious. After a moment, he reached his hand out and said, “What’s your name, kid?” Beck grinned and grabbed it firmly, “Beck. Quentin Beck, Mr. Stark.”

It was then the elevator reached the lobby floor and opened. Motioning for the younger man to come with him, he insisted, “Tony’s fine.”

Within a month, Beck found himself scaling the ranks at Stark Industries, as well as becoming deeply entwined with Tony’s personal life. He had started popping in on Tony’s personal projects, hanging around his labs and enthusiastically debating his senior; afterall, the initiative to change Stark Industries was so recent, Tony hadn’t yet worked out all the kinks of what was to come and what was to change. Another opinion was welcomed, with Tony’s word being the final say of course. It was such a natural occurrence that Tony only happened to realize it suddenly one day; Beck was an anomaly in his life and industry. Everyone was so cut-throat, carrying looming shadows of ulterior motives and self preservation, or at least the habit of paranoia towards those around you. Beck however… was charming. Didn’t scramble to elevate his own reputation as a cool, intimidating guy like so many of the aspiring ‘top dogs’ in his company. 

It was jarring at first. Tony had always been handled both as a trust fund baby, and a bomb waiting to explode. His employees were so intimidated by him most broke out into a sweat making eye contact. His peers and competitors came to events and gave him firm handshakes, empty smiles, and plenty of gossip about what an asshole he was; which would surely make it’s way back to him. He had male friends- very good male friends, like Rhodey and Happy. 

But Beck was younger, ambitious, and something foreign to Tony; playful. It took a while before Tony got used to such casual physical affection from another male. Yeah, Tony would put a hand on someone’s shoulder.... Give a cocky wink, maybe a couple pats on the back during a hug if it was someone he was especially happy to see, stuff that was acceptable to show man to man. But Beck was unashamed and animated. Looking over a 3D map together got one of Beck’s arms thrown over the back of his neck, working in the lab together Beck rubbed shoulders with the older man whenever suggesting something new to try and build, constantly placing a hand on Tony’s arm, a big, lingering hug every time they saw each other (which at this point was pretty much every day), and cracking a joke pretty much ensured a wink. And Tony observe him do it towards all of his friends when they stopped by. Male affection to this degree had been so unknown to Tony and he couldn't help but feel restless when it was shown. One day after standing particularly close while working over some mechanics and Beck cracked a joke, playfully knocking his cheek into the older man’s, he just had to ask.

Beck stared at him shocked for a moment before bursting out into laughter. 

“No, no, sorry Tony. I’ve got a wife. Let me know if you need me to scale it back; I know how your generation can be with the macho-ism.” Tony’s eyebrows raised with surprise; yeah it never came up, but he wouldn’t have guessed Quentin was already married. Maybe a high school sweetheart sort of deal? “My generation huh?” He asked sarcastically. Beck smirked back and he said, “Yeah, you know. Before the dinosaurs.”

The definitely earned Beck a headlock, Tony allowing himself to become more open to the acts of endearment. 

And with Beck’s charm, he quickly found himself a favorite of Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy’s, sometimes ending up as the middle man for communication between them and Tony when the lead of Stark Industries locked himself away with his work. More often than not, Tony found himself rolling his eyes when Quentin and Pepper doubled teamed him with the banter and the sass; he was glad he knew better about Quentin’s personal life, otherwise he might not have been very happy to see him and Pep get along so famously. 

Then one day Beck bounced into the lab, nearly tackling Tony and a bear hug and causing them both to stumble into a table, the younger of the two laughing heartily. Before Tony could scold his employee for being so damn handsy so early in the morning, Beck pulled back, hands firmly placed on Tony’s shoulders, grinning wildly and announcing, “We’re gonna have a baby. It’s a little early to tell but.. She thinks it’s a boy.”

Tony’s eyes widened in shock for a millisecond before he clasped the younger man back on the shoulder, unable to resist a smile and teased, “You sure you’re old enough to have a kid? Congrats, man.”

Tony would never forget Beck’s eyes crinkling with happiness, opening his mouth to search for words he couldn’t find, giving up and just soaking in the moment with his boss and friend.

Tony would remember it especially well five months later when Beck got the call at work and his face fell, sprinting from the lab with no explanation and not returning Tony’s calls for two days. He didn’t see Beck until that following weekend when him, Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper drove together to the funeral in tense silence.

It was Rhodey who broke it, asking quietly, “How’d it happen?” No one wanted to be the one to speak up but eventually Pepper gave out a painful sigh and said, “Drunk driver. Drove over the median. It was head on.”

The four walked up to the funeral home with their heads down, spirits falling even lower when they found a foggy minded Beck near the casket. Tony tried to find words when Beck numbly mumbled a scripted thanks to them for being there, glassy eyed, but lost his voice in his throat when he felt an ice cold grip in his chest. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes, it hurts you more than it hurts them >.<

Wood straining under his blows, Tony pounded on the door, shouting Quentin’s name. Fifteen minutes of this and no response despite all the lights being on. JARVIS hacked into the townhouse’s security system on command and unlocked the door, Tony striding in with a huff. 

Quentin had always been a social drinker; he couldn’t get Tony out to a bar so he’d bring the alcohol to them and they’d have a few glasses over blueprints and debates. He got fluid, loose, comfortable, only a happy buzz. But it had been a month and a half since the funeral and whenever Tony came over to check on the younger man, Quentin opened the door with sunken eyes and hot breath that smelled of vodka, completely trashed, facial hair grizzly and unkempt. 

This time Tony found his friend stone cold passed out on the bathroom floor and began to aggressively shake him. Beck opened his bleary eyes but groaned at the light, turning away. “Come on, Q, get your ass up.” Tony tried to say with authority but frustration was bleeding into his voice. Hoisting Quentin up and kicking away empty bottles, Tony brought him to the couch on the first floor and Quentin collapsed onto it, completely incoherent. Thirty minutes and bottle of gatorade later, Beck was slouched up on the couch, staring despondent at the wall with Tony staring at him heatedly.

“Quentin-” Tony started, and his friend slurred back, “Sorry for missing work, boss, I’m gonna… gonna…” Tony sighed and said, “Don’t play dumb, you know this isn’t about work. You’ve gone full blown fucking alcoholic.” Beck muttered something and tried to stand, no longer black out wasted but plenty drunk enough to stumble into a wall. Tony sighed sharply and grabbed Beck’s shoulder, pinning him there.

“Why’s the house so empty?” Tony demanded and Beck turned away, slurring, “I couldn’t look at it all, Tony, I don’t wanna see…” 

Tony released him and Beck slid down the wall and crumbled into the floor, muttering about his head and the room still spinning. Rolling up his sleeves, Tony swept through what remained in the house of Beck’s family, collecting photos, clothes, and trinkets that had been thrown into boxes before taking them out to his car and hiding them in his trunk. He returned to the townhouse to grab a Quentin that was floating between drunk and hungover, dragging the stumbling man to his car as he instructed JARVIS to take care of locking down the townhouse. Beck groaned weakly as he was splayed into the back seat and Tony started peeling down the street. 

Feeling nauseous for multiple reasons, Beck choked out a question of where they were going.

“Alcohol treatment and mental rehab facility. I’m admitting your ass before I knock on your door one day and find you dead, suffocated from your own vomit.” Rehab. Drunken anger flashed through Beck and he sloppily pushed himself up, spitting out, “You can’t admit me without my consent.”

The car screeched to a halt and Tony whipped around, eyes blazing. “All I have to do is flash some pocket change, Quentin, and any high end facility of my choosing will be happy to forge some paperwork. You’re gonna sit your ass down, and relax until we get there.”

Quentin tried to bolt from the car, but Tony had frozen the locks. 

“I’m fine, Tony, I swear, I’m gonna start heading back to work and-” Quentin pleaded, changing his strategy, but Tony only retorted coldly, “Buckle up, sweetheart, it’s a bit of a ride.”

White knuckled and gripping the steering wheel, jaw clenched tight, Tony forced himself to look only to the road as he heard his drunken friend explode into a minor emotional breakdown in the backseat, inhibitions dulled enough to release the tears he had hidden from Tony after the death of his wife an unborn child. He pleaded and pleaded and pleaded with Tony that he’d get it together if they just turned around, but soon enough they were pulling up to a massive luxury building with the faux-cuteness only a rehabilitation facility could manage. Two workers came out and ‘assisted’ Beck from the car, physically struggling as best as he could in his still inebriated state. Turning to Tony one last time, dried tear stains streaked down his face, he pleaded again to just forget about this and go back to working like normal at Stark Industries. 

Tony swallowed down the tightness in his throat and stepped forward towards Beck, faking the evenness in his voice, “I can’t help you the way you need, and I’m not going to watch you kill yourself. Ball is in your court. You can go in there and tell them you’re entering of your own free will, or I can flash my checkbook. It’s up to you.”

Quentin was dragged away, hopelessness and betrayal painting his face as Tony was directed to someone to set up billing. Giving an obviously strained and fake smile out of politeness, Tony handed over a credit card.

It was incredibly long month of intensive in-patient. When Tony was locked up alone in his personal lab, he found himself particularly wishing Quentin was there; things were getting tense with the government putting the heat on Rhodey as far as his Iron Man technology went. Pep was there of course; Pep was always there, but he couldn’t shake the looming concern over Beck on top of all the bullshit that came with Stark Industries and his Iron Man identity. He was relieved to finally get a call the third week of treatment, Quentin sounding emotional but coherent and most importantly, hopeful. Finding the light at the end of the tunnel, Tony anxiously worked through the slowest week he’d ever had before finding himself driving back to the facility, hoping he’d see he had made the right decision. 

He walked a little too quickly into the white sterile building, scanning the waiting room rapidly before his eyes hit the prize. 

Beck stood there, small guilty smile and his shoulders relaxed, hands lazily tucked in his pockets. Tony sighed with relief when he saw the younger man was well groomed, eyes no longer sunken in, skin flushed instead of sickly pale and dehydrated. Anxiety still firm in his stomach and unsure where they stood, Tony strode towards who he hoped was still his friend. Without hesitation, Beck unknowlying answered Tony’s question when he wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck in a crushing hug, Tony returning it by wrapping his arms right around Beck’s ribcage. They held tightly for a minute before breaking apart, Tony wrapping an arm around Beck’s shoulders and escorting him out. Sliding into the passenger seat as Tony drove them out of there, Beck soaked in his freedom for a few minutes before he joked, “So, you get any slack from the media? Have you been dubbed a completely reformed man? First Stark Industries went kosher, now you’re paying for your employee's rehab... I gotta say, that looks pretty good if you’re trying to get 50th place on Time’s person of the year.”

Tony snorted and shot back sarcastically, “Oh haha, thank you for your service towards my cause. No, no one knows you’ve even been here. Far as they’re concerned, you’ve been MIA on a big project for me.”

The reached the Stark building and slid into Tony’s private garage, Beck hopping out of the car excitedly and stretching his legs before they made their way inside Tony’s personal lobby. Beck grinned and said, “How about you fill me in on what that project was supposed to be, so I can figure out a convincing lie.”

Tony gave him a sly smirk before turning to stand squarely in front of Beck, arms crossed loosely across his chest. “Who said it was a lie? How about you take on this project for me and we’ll call ourselves even.” Beck blinked in surprise, mouth slightly opened, but before he could even ask, Tony sauntered up to him and continued, “Your augmented reality therapy whatever? Funded. I want to send you to our facility in Germany with your own team. How about two, three years to grind on that, bring it back home, add the finishing touches, and announce it to the world?”

Beck’s mouth fell open in shock, going completely dry, and his face flushed red as he tried to stutter out a response when the elevator dinged and Pepper jogged over as fast as she could in her little kitten heels. She cried out Quentin’s name joyously and he excitedly threw himself into her embrace, both of them laughing lightly before she gave him a peck on the forehead and pulled back to look into his face. 

“How was it?! I mean, how are you? I’m so glad, you just look so good and we were so, so- are you ok? Your eyes are kinda red...”

Beck grinned widely at her before turning back to Tony, obviously swallowing down his emotions before he said proudly, “I’m great Pep, just about to start a new project.”


	3. Chapter 3

Rubbing his hands roughly over his face, Beck sighed harshly as he ended his call with Tony. Over two years since he arrived in Germany and his superior found plenty of time to chat and catch up on work theories, but never fully explained what the hell had gone on. He barely got the clip notes version of everything that had happened with the government trying to force their way into acquiring his tech, the fight with Rhodey and then Vanko, going missing from whatever the Mandarin or whoever had done, and now ‘The Avengers’? Tony just breezed through all of it, he would just start going off on incomplete rants, mentioning people and events Beck hadn’t been filled in on. 

Beck locked his computer, previously skimming through a gossip column. Word had gotten out that Tony sent such a young scientist to conduct his own project overseas, but they had no idea what it was. They were more concerned about the juicy conspiracy theories that birthed from it. There was no shortage of claims that this so-called Quentin Beck was actually a half brother to Tony, the product of a secret affair Howard Stark had shortly before his death. People didn’t bother trying to see if the math even lead up to their ages, instead making collages of their pictures together and deciding their completely different facial hair proved it. Of course that’s the only explanation as to why someone his age would be awarded such a huge task.

Picking up his mug and walking towards the window of his office that overlooked one of the labs, Beck stared out with a warmth in his chest. The facility was massive, almost as large as the Stark tower itself. It had been operating for only about fifteen years along with a handful of other international Stark bases, but Germany’s was by far the biggest after America’s. Their augmented reality project was soon to be wrapped up, and they had even taken on a few side projects to couple with it; their latest was a hallucinogenic liquid they hoped to diffuse into a gas, wanting to see if it could not only make the augmented reality more immersive, but possibly to assist with patients undergoing surgery who needed something to supplement anesthesia, or even if it could affect the deeper parts of the brain for those who were comatose or in a vegatative state. He hoped that they could wrap up within three months before transferring the research and products back to the flagship building in New York and finish testing for eventual release. 

Beck let his mind wander back to when he was home, back to rehab and the ‘incident’. There was a distant tightness in his chest when he thought about how he asked Pepper to help him sell the townhouse while he was abroad, but that place just felt like it wasn’t supposed to be his anymore. He hoped to buy something new closer to Stark Tower, especially now that he was one of the top earners in the company. Start again with a clean slate. Taking a sip of his coffee, he chuckled to himself over the less than flattering descriptions he had gotten of Tony’s fellow Avengers. He hoped he would at least get to meet them when he got back.

And he would, but sooner than he thought.

Less than two weeks later, slinking across the catwalks of one of the biggest lab rooms, Beck was jotting down notes of the large chemical pools below. One of the batches of hallucinogenic gas had soured somehow, adapting almost radioactive properties. He was making urgent calls trying to get this disposed of it quick before it grew strong enough to have an affect. Clicking his tongue and shaking his head, he was about to write down another possible chemical interaction that could have caused this when the entire catwalk bounced sharply, causing him to stagger violently to catch his balance.

Panic flooded his system when the shrill scream of an emergency alarm tore through the air, adrenaline shooting from zero to a hundred. On the ground level below him, an explosion blew a hole through a wall letting what looked like soldiers storm in. A creak of metal caused Beck’s head to shoot back up, seeing a black armoured figure rush him. He barely had time to make out the emblem of a skull and tentacles before lunging forward, forcing an iron grasp onto the rifle the soldier had and thrashing to rip it away. Raising a leg and kicking squarely in the man’s stomach, they fell back with a grunt and Beck threw the firearm over the railing of the catwalk. Hearing the woosh of movement a second too late, Beck was tackled and the two scuffled on the floor, Beck’s head snapping to the side at the impact of a brutal punch. He gasped for air, blood spilling out of his nose and running across his face before gritting his teeth shoving the assailant off. Blind with rage and panic, Beck wildly punched, grunting with each movement, forcing the other man back. When the soldier lunged forward again, Beck whipped his hands out and wrapped them around the enemy’s throat in the tiny slot beneath his helmet, attempting to gouge his fingers in as well. The other man stumbled for a split second and Beck doubled down, ears roaring with white noise.

He didn’t hear the bang, but the air was punched out of his lungs as a sting tore into his lower abdomen. Unconsciously releasing his grip, Beck reached down and felt the bullet wound in his gut, unable to anticipate the small pistol the assailant had tucked in the back of his uniform. Frozen in shock, the ground disappeared from under him as Beck was suddenly thrown from the catwalk, plummeting through the air and hitting the burning surface of the contaminated green liquid, sinking to the bottom of the vat. Unmoving and unfeeling, Beck looked up at the shimmering surface before everything went dark. 


	4. Chapter 4

He could tell there was light past his eyelids, but Beck was so comfortable that he resisted opening them. The silence grew foggy, and soon he could make out distant beeps and maybe German… maybe English… everything was scrambled in his head, feeling like blood was rushing to it for the first time in forever.

Crackling open a bleary eye, it was a blinding, sterile white light that slowly faded away into shape and texture.

A ceiling.

The beeping called his attention and he looked to his side. Medical equipment… he couldn’t remember what it was, what it did. He scanned the room in a stupor before his eyes landed on something and he grinned a very far away grin.

“Tony-” He croaked out, throat feeling shriveled. Tony stepped forward, body language cool but eyes giving away his worry. After a few slow minutes Beck slowly came back into himself, not completely clear but at least coherent. 

“What’s… Tony, what’s-?” 

A doctor interrupted, and started asking these nonsensical questions about if he knew where he was and what year was it. Beck was in Germany, wrapping up his project and getting ready to dispose of the failed batch of hallucinogenic liquid.

As the words left his mouth, a bad feeling crept up the back of his spine but he couldn’t place it. “Tony-” He croaked a little louder, “Why are you here? What… is something wrong with the project?”

Tony heavily suggested the medical personnel leave before pulling up a chair to Beck’s bedside. Attempting to start a few times but voice dying in his throat, Tony finally managed, “Quentin, I need you to stay calm but listen to me very carefully. We’ve had you in a medically induced coma for almost a month now.”

Beck’s forehead crinkled, that didn’t make any sense. Before he could slur out a response, Tony continued, “Your lab was attacked by a terrorist organization, no idea who they were, they all got away and we couldn't make out their uniforms. We’re lucky you built those hologram projecting drones to be multifunctioning and armed, because they didn’t get any of our tech.”

Beck nodded, trying to soak Tony’s words into his soggy brain, but after a minute he asked, “But… a coma… what does that have to do..”

Tony sucked in a tense breath and forced out, “You were shot. They pulled you out of that pool of radioactive mountain dew. It got in your bloodstream, in your lungs… we had to put you under, it did something to you, Q, but we don’t know what yet. Just that you survived. We’re hoping you don’t go Hulk on us, but...”

Eyes still heavy, Beck’s head slowly lolled forward and his face screwed up in shock when he looked at his arms hooked up to IVs; his veins were unnaturally opaque, glowing through his pale skin, but that wasn’t what shocked him. Veins that should have been a faded blue were a bright, sickly green.

A hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder, grounding him as Tony repeated, “Hey, come on. We’re gonna figure this out. I need you to rest. We’ve already moved all your project’s operations back to New York, and once you’re better you can continue working on it. But first, we're going to figure out what the hell happened to you and how to undo it. You've got this. We’ve got this.”

Beck stared at him for a moment, then back at his mutated arms, before nodding numbly and sinking back into the bed, a little too tired to be completely despondent. 

The next few days were blurs and shadows, Beck on a constant drip of pain killers. The burning echoed deep in every corner of his body, his blood feeling like sludge as it dragged through his veins. Gasping in his hospital bed, deep green veins throbbing up his throat and dancing past his jawline, Dr. Banner assessed him gently as Tony watched from a corner of the room, arms crossed.

"Never seen anything like this, Tony. I mean, other than with me." Bruce said, shaking his head with concern as he gently prodded the nodes in Beck's neck. Tony stepped forward to the side of the bed, gently urging, "Quent, man, can you do that mumbo jumbo magic trick you told me about last night?"

It took a moment to process but Beck gave a delayed nod, raising a shaky arm and making a cupping motion with his hand. Still quivering, a green mist started to pool in his palm and quickly poured onto the bed, slowly growing wispy and fading into the air. Banner and Stark looked at each other nervously and Bruce motioned the other scientist to head into the hallway with him.

Out of earshot from Beck, Bruce let out a harsh sigh through his nose and said, "Look, Tony, I've been through this song and dance before. Now that he's stable, I think our best option is to transfer him back to a hospital in NYC and work on managing his symptoms and whatever side effects manifest. Let’s be honest here, we don’t even know yet what this has done to him. I mean… I can still look into a cure when the time comes. But I'm just letting you know right now, don't bet on it." Tony rubbed a hand to his forehead before finally nodding, mumbling a smart remark under his breath, and slipping down the hallway to make arrangements.

It was a slow, grueling process recovering from not only his physical wounds, but whatever chemical changes were taking place in his body. The first week back Beck had very little memory of, just flashes of writhing in pain in his hospital bed, difficulty sleeping due to a green glow behind his eyelids. Banner quickly developed an injection to help curb the excess energy throttling his system and Beck's veins slowly faded out, taking the pain with it. Then it was a matter of his physical rehabilitation, his muscles taunt and and weak from his extended coma. Physical therapy came first but it was a quick process; Beck was already fit and his stamina seemed to be boosted from his unnatural affliction. During his healing he spent a lot of time at the Stark tower overseeing the continuation of his project, and got to meet the Avengers coming and going from the building.

Much to Tony's lighthearted annoyance, Beck got along with the other heros much better than the Iron Man himself. 

When Tony walked into his personal lobby one day and saw Beck, Thor, and Rogers sitting on the decorative chairs circling a coffee and chatting, he observed sarcastically, "Well, wish I had been invited to the meeting. Didn't mean to disturb you all, by all means, order room service while you're at it."

Beck said back playfully, "We hurt your feelings, Tony? The guys were just talking about finally testing what this crap is-" he lifted his arm and pointed his palm out flat, shooting out a thin tunnel of green smoke. "Would probably be safer using it on them than a poor lab assistant." 

They didn't figure out the scope of Beck's power until the fourth time going at it. Knowing it wasn't toxic or flammable, he'd spray mossy clouds around them and they'd just… wait and see if anything happened. That particular day Beck couldn't get his mind off delays in the augmented reality project. He closed his eyes and tried to picture the notepad on the desk in his office, what was it he needed to get done this week? His eyes snapped open when the two Avengers gasped and Beck's mouth fell open-

They were back in his office. Sputtering and looking desperately at his hands, he asked no one in particular, "I- teleportation?!" 

But with losing focus, the room around them began to flicker in and out like patchy internet connection. Unsure what to do, Beck sliced his hand through the air and the office room evaporated in a haze, leaving them back in the field where they had started. His mouth going dry, Beck realized how obvious it was. 

Banner took over testing Beck's abilities in a locked down training room, testing the limits of what was and wasn't possible in his projections. He became able to project illusions of varying sizes; make a non-existent mouse appear, or make it seem like you were standing in the middle of the grand canyon. He could also influence sound; even if it was silent he could create background noises, voices, change his own in fact. But the hallucinations couldn't warp the reality of touch. A concrete wall disguised as marble was still going to be rough and grainy when you reached up and touched it. He could slightly affect temperature, but he had to do that manually by releasing hotter or colder smoke from his hands.

Physically, not much had changed. Maybe he had a bit more stamina, a bit more strength, but nothing inhuman. He was, however, beyond thrilled to find out if he manipulated the physical state of the clouds and the pressure of expending them right, he could ride them as if flying; and he couldn't resist being as obnoxious as possible about his newfound flight around Tony, causing the other man to constantly roll his eyes.

His relationship with projected realities changed and he went back to feverishly working on the big project, refreshed with new ideas and determined to test the limit of immersion. It took a couple weeks for Rhodey and Tony to break him out of his frenzy and leave the lab for more than twenty minutes. 

The three rode the elevator up to Tony's private quarters, Beck blabbering on about his new theories on his augmented reality therapy and if they could do beyond just projecting an image, but instead hook up technology directly to the brain to influence it positively, maybe influence the brain’s chemical reactions mid-session.

The elevator dinged and Beck hopped out, mouth going a hundred miles a minute when he looked up and stopped right in his tracks, a moment of surprise before he grinned and said, "So, who didn't send me a memo we were making a party out of dinner?"

The remaining members of The Avengers stood coyly around the island counter in the kitchen, giving each other sneaky looks. Suddenly Thor pulled out a party favor and blew it, letting out a shrill honk. He then analyzed it and said under his breath, "You mortals and your simple instruments…"

That threw Beck off and he looked around the room squinting, trying to figure out if he'd forgotten some occasion or birthday. Tony appeared beside him, sliding an arm around the younger man's shoulder with a grin.

"The Grim Reaper couldn't make it, but you know he's looking to fill a spot on the team, right?"

Beck would have laughed at the quip towards Fury if his voice wasn't caught in his throat from shock. He scanned the room to see everyone's encouraging faces.

Beck stuttered out, "You… You guys, I- I mean this is… my powers aren't like yours, though. I can do parlor tricks, but I mean-"

"Nay!" Thor shouted and ripped another shrill horn through the party favor as Rhodey tried to hide his laughter. Tony gave Beck a comforting squeeze with his arm and said, "Hey, I'm just saying, mindfucking someone into defeat isn't too shabby. Better having them fight a broom than taking all the punches yourself, huh?"

Beck failed to squeak something out before he said breathlessly, “I- don’t know what to say.”

Steve walked up to him, held his hand out with a smile, and replied comfortingly, “Just say yes.”


	5. Chapter 5

Beck’s newfound powers weren’t without side effects, though.

Without warning, he would fall into spells of illness like when he had first been infected. It would leave him bedridden for days, occasionally a week. Dr. Banner believed it wasn’t necessarily doing permanent damage or killing him, but had no explanation as to why they happened spontaneously. 

He’d lay exhausted in bed, gasping shallowly, his veins glowing bright green and painted vibrantly across his skin while he burned up with fever. He had moved into his own detached townhouse, a huge personal lab in the basement and an AI Tony had gifted him, so he could mostly fend for himself when these cycles hit. But still, Tony, Pep, or Rhodey never failed to stop in daily and make sure he was eating, drinking, and hadn’t collapsed trying to stumble to the bathroom. And when he wasn’t ill, it was business as usual with The Avengers and at Stark Industries.

It was all a new speed for him, the rise of Ultron, Wanda joining them, moving to the new Avengers facility, dealing with their worsening public image. People began to directly correlate the creation of their team with the rise of international threats, and deep down Beck wondered if it was true. Was it possible these threats always lurked silently, and that whatever was out there in space would have launched an attack eventually? Did they speed up the process?

Before he knew it, the day of unveiling his project finally came, and it was surreal as to how it felt so far away now, the stress of their current situation looming over Beck instead. As Tony walked off the stage with a coy smile, Beck sputtered behind the curtain, “BARF?! I thought you were joking, asshole.” Tony gave a fake gasp and said, “Is that anyway to talk to your boss?” Beck rolled his eyes and corrected himself, “Sorry, I meant Monsieur Asshole.” He couldn’t resist a grin though as Tony clapped him on the back in congratulations. He willed himself to forget about the troubles for a little while. Finally, finally, something had gone right. They accomplished something good.

Soon enough after, shit hit the fan.

Beck laid back in bed, writhing and sweating, his veins throbbing. A distant noise rang out- it took a minute to realize it was his phone. With a shaky hand he grabbed off the bedside table and read the caller ID with bleary eyes. Tony.

Accepting the call and struggling to bring it up to his ear, Tony spoke first. 

“Stay in bed, Q.” The older man said, obviously flying in his suit at the moment. “I talked to the spiderling. We’re heading to Germany soon.”

Oh. The masked guy in red he had found one day on YouTube and forwarded to Tony.

“Tony-” Beck croaked out but was interrupted with, “You’re sitting this one out. Would have been nice to have you since everyone likes you too much to knock your teeth out, but oh well.”

“No, Tony,” Beck insisted, “Don’t do this. We can’t… this is gonna be the beginning of the end.”

Silence. 

A minute passed before Tony said heavily, “You haven’t agreed with a single thing I’ve done.”

Beck nodded even though Tony wouldn’t see it.

“Yeah. I haven’t.”

“So all the fucking ghouls and bullshit that’s been crawling out of a hell hole the past few years. How are you planning on beating it?”

Beck wheezed painfully for a moment before he grunted out softly, “Together. We gotta do it together.”

Another stretch of silence before Tony let out a dry laugh. “I already know you think I’m in the wrong, Quent. But I need to know before this goes any further. Are you tapping out on me?”

“No,” Beck smiled weakly into the phone. “I know you’re wrong. But if you’re leading us into hell, I’m gonna be here trying to get you to turn around until the very last step.”

He could hear Tony’s grin through the silence. “Thanks for the heads up on spidey, by the way. Kid’s not half bad. Might be too starstruck to take Rogers down, though.”

“He loves you, ya know. Cap.”

Tony chuckled bitterly and said, “Not enough for him to listen to reason.” “Hey, let’s not imply that the government is doing any of this out of pure, good intentions. Can’t wait to see what crap they have hidden up their sleeves.” the younger man quipped back sarcastically.

He was well again by the time a defeated Tony and Peter, the Spider-Man he had discovered, arrived back at Stark Industries on a private jet. Mouth hanging open in pure shock as the two walked toward him off the landing, Beck realized when Tony said kid, he actually meant kid.

Peter was broad shouldered and chested, but lean, absolutely buzzing with nervousness and very obviously stifling himself from screaming out how cool being on the Stark building’s rooftop was. There was what seemed to be a permanent bite on his lip as his wrung his hands to dispel some pent up energy, but when he met Beck’s gaze the teen smiled excitedly. Bouncing up to Beck, Peter practically squeaked out, “Mr. Beck, right? Mr. Mysterio? I am- it is so- wow, it is so-” 

Beck grinned and chuckled at this kid hardly getting a sentence out. Sticking out a hand, he replied, “I saw some of your videos, Peter. I gotta say, pretty sick.”

Peter’s brain short circuited and his face blossomed at the praise as he shook back vigorously. Tony strode ahead of them, ready to slink away into his cave but Beck happily took over entertaining Peter. He led the teen inside and past the private lobby, grabbing a soda out of the fridge and a cider for himself, having long been back in the right place emotionally to be able to enjoy alcohol recreationally again.

"Where you from, bud?" Beck asked, handing Peter the chilled coke can. "Queens!" Peter beamed back. "That's not bad at all if you ask me. Close enough to intern here at Stark Industries, don't you think?" Beck replied with a playful wink. Peter went bright red, mouth falling open to say something multiple times but nothing comprehensive coming out.

"THAT'S-! I mean, that's, if you think, I would love to, it's only, like, perfect for me you know, but I mean, I don't know if, if, if someone could put in a good word for me-"

Beck let out a sharp, genuine laugh and insisted, "Peter, a good word for you? You don't need it if Tony trusted you to go up against Cap."

At this point, Peter was practically vibrating and Beck decided to give him a tour of the normally off-limits parts of Stark Industries; specifically being the casual areas that were previously in use by The Avengers. Tony would have surely objected, but he wasn’t around and what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. 

Peter buzzed around staring at everything with sparkles practically in his eyes and Beck recounted stories of the good old times. Before Tony had even left, Beck knew. Bridges were burned and the barren hallways were a testament to the lonely days to come. He wasn’t even sure if Rhodey would want to look at him, another super powered being, after what had happened.

But Peter was a welcome breath of fresh air instead of the tension he thought he’d have to face when Tony came back home. Making their rounds all the way back to the rooftop, Beck soaked in the evening air and took a deep, crisp breath.

“So, how are you liking being an Avenger? Sucks that trying to throw down with Cap is a new part of the curriculum.” Beck laughed. Peter instead shuffled nervously and said, “Actually Mr. Stark said I’m gonna start, like… part time or freelance or something and work my way up to official member… until then they’ll just call me when they need me. I’m totally ready, though! You should have seen me in Germany, I mean, I got THE shield!”

Peter was turned slightly away, looking at the skyline of the city so he missed Beck’s softening look. He realized there was no way Tony had been transparent about everything going down between the split in Avengers, and he bet Tony wasn’t really planning on enlisting the kid anytime soon. Clapping the teen on the back, Peter quickly looked up at him and Beck promised, “I’ll try to get them to call you first when something pops up.”

Peter grinned but before he could respond, Tony strolled out onto the roof with them, showered and changed into semi-business clothes. “S’cuse me, Quentin, but I’ve gotta get little skippy here back to his aunt. She can’t wait to hear about his educational trip to Germany as a Stark intern. Kid, head downstairs, Happy’s out front with the car. Tell him if I’m not down in five minutes, wait longer.”

A little deflated at the thought of going home so soon, Peter thanked Beck and dragged his feet on the way out, still soaking up the building’s tech. It was Tony and Beck alone on the rooftop for a moment before Beck let out a deep sigh. “How’d it go?”

Tony shrugged nonchalantly and said, “You know, the usual. My best friend got swatted out of the sky like a housefly and is paralyzed now. We caused millions of dollars in damage. Rogers threw me around like a punching bag before he chauffeured my parent’s murderer out on a red carpet. Only thing we were missing was lizard people crawling out of caves and driving humanity into slavery.” His voice was faux-casual, but Beck could see the iciness behind his eyes.

“Your parent’s murderer?” Beck repeated and Tony clenched his jaw at the implication.

“Yes, my parent’s murderer. What else do you want me to call him?”

Beck shrugged and shook his head, clicking his tongue while trying to sort out his words. A moment later he raised his head to look Tony directly in the eyes and replied, “I’m pretty sure it was HYDRA that killed your parents, Tone. Barnes was just their scapegoat.” Tony’s face hardened and he stepped up closer, saying lowly, “Giving Barnes a get-out-of-jail-free-card won’t bring my parents back.”

And to his surprise, Beck matched his step with his own, face to face, and said firmly, “Neither does throwing the book at him.”

They stayed locked in silence, trying to read the other person, before Tony gave him a warning, “One last time. If you’re tapping out on me, say it now.”

Beck gave an aloof smile but held his ground. “I’m not, Tony. But I’m telling you right now. I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this; and I think something bigger is coming.”

Tony gave a slow, curt nod, and turned away to head back inside. Before he reached for the door, he looked over his shoulder and shouted back at Beck, “Oh, and by the way. Something big is always coming to fuck with us. Don’t let yourself get rusty just because The Avengers had a messy divorce.”


	6. Chapter 6

Beck watched the hollow Iron Man suit fly off and he turned to look at the almost drowned Peter Parker sitting dejectedly on the playground. The teen didn’t raise his eyes to meet Beck’s, afraid of another scolding to really drive Mr. Stark’s in. Instead, he snuck a peek when the older man climbed over to sit next to him. Existing together in silence for a moment gave Peter a chance to really look at the intricacies of the Mysterio suit and armor, the golden metal plating slightly worn.

  
“You’ve been trying to warn them?” Beck asked, turning his head towards Peter and then teen dropped his head down to avoid eye contact. “Yeah. I’ve been updating Happy with mission reports… Asking for new assignments… he’s not even getting back to me.” Peter’s mumbling was sharp and frustrated, hunched over and arms crossed tensely. Beck let out a long sigh and gave a sympathetic smile. “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, buddy. We really need you to lay low while we handle damage control.”

Peter huffed and insisted quietly, “Maybe there’d be less damage if Mr. Stark made me an Avenger now. I got this. But he doesn’t want me.” 

Beck hummed softly and looked up to the sky, cloudy and starless from the urban light pollution. Still looking far away, he asked Peter, “What do you want, Peter?”

Peter finally looked over and then also tilted his head up to the sky to see what Beck was looking at, faced with mundane nothingness. 

“To be an Avenger. Fight, to be a hero, all that stuff. Like...” He said with a bit of desperation bleeding into his voice. Beck glanced over at the teen and prodded further, “But is that really what you want? Or do you feel you need to do it? Because of how you are now?”

That caught Peter’s attention, his eyes flickering to Beck, Mysterio, before he glanced down and studied his open hands. But it was only a second of deliberation before he shot back firmly, “No, no, this is- I want this. I do. And I know I can do more, if, if Mr. Stark just-”

Beck laughed lightly and gave Peter a firm shake on the shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts. “I get it, kid, I get. Now how about you level with me?” Curious, Peter leaned in closer. “I’m gonna work on getting Stark to ease up on you, ok? The good word you wanted put in, right? But I want you to promise me you’ll spend a solid chunk of time just fluffing up your resume with the basics; real intern style, you know? Sweep through the small stuff and let Tony build his trust in you back up.” 

Peter deflated a bit again, not wanting to whine in front of an Avenger of all people, but he couldn’t help but think bitterly that would take too long. At the lack of response, Beck gave his shoulder another warm shake and and said, “Hey, come on now, Webs. You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”

Peter couldn’t stifle the small grin that bubbled up out of him, looking up at Mysterio and giving a nod. The hero help out a fist in-between them and Peter knocked his knuckles back into them, sealing the agreement.

An agreement Beck figured would be eventually broken. He was a teenager, after all. But it was the thought that counted.

“Tonyyyyy-” Beck groaned as he followed the man down the hallway on one of his private floors of the Stark tower. “I don’t want to hear it, Quentin, whatever LifeTime spiel you’re about to throw at me.”

“You really took the suit, Tony? The suit?! It’s a faux pas to take back a gift, you know.” 

Tony rolled his eyes and finally turned to face the younger man, throwing his arms up in the air and nearly shouting, “One thing!! I told him one thing, Q! Play it safe, lay low, take it easy, stick to picking up litter for all I care! And what does he do? My suit, my rules. He could have gotten himself killed, gotten dozens more killed, actions have consequences, and-”

“Tony,” Beck sighed, exasperated, clasping his hands on Tony’s shoulders, “I get it, enough with the dad talk.”

The iron Avenger sputtered for a minute, before spitting out indignantly, “No, no, no, this is NOT dad talk, I’m just- ”

“Let’s lay out the details. You yelled at him, sent him home, and now he’s going to spend all night crying. Doesn’t sound a little like dad talk to you?” Beck sassed back, cocking his head. Speechless, Tony finally huffed and walked away again with Beck jogging after him and insisting, “He’s a good kid, Tony.”

“Yeah, he is-” Tony spat back, “Too good to get tangled up in our bullshit of space terrorists and haunted computers come to life. He thinks he’s had a taste of the big leagues and wants more; I should have never given him the suit, he’d still be busting ATM robbers and being paid in churros.”

“You know that’s not true-” Beck sighed back. “He wants to be like you too much. He would have found a way into trouble, but without you there to help him. At least now… I don’t know, we can prepare him. Set him up for success. Because when something big happens, something really big, you think the kid’s gonna sit at home because you told him to?”

“You know what, now that I think of it, you’re doing a fine job on your own. I’ll just pass the torch down to you.” Tony snorted back, briskly walking away. “You get to be the dad, have fun.”

Beck gaped for a moment, words lost, before running after the older man to scold him more about unarming Spider-Man.

Just as expected, Peter got in more trouble, and Beck couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the fact that he could have used the protection and advantages of the suit more than ever- Thanks a lot, Tony. Him and Happy had just peeled into the scene, shocked to stumble upon Toomes and the goods wrapped up like a present in webs amongst the fire and rubble. Beck couldn’t resist his face splitting grin as he picked up the note.

_ FOUND: _

_ Flying Vulture Guy _

  * _Spider-Man_

_ P.S. Sorry about your plane _

He excused himself from the rest of the cleanup crew, fished his phone out and waited as the call went straight to voicemail.

“Hey, Tony. Just wanted to give you a warning before I say ‘told ya so’.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Wipe that smirk off your face or I’ll do it for you.” Tony grumbled deadpan under his breath as they descended the staircase towards Happy and Peter. Peter’s face lit up like Christmas and Beck resisted a chuckle as he saw the kid struggle to hide his nervousness from visiting the new Avengers facility. Beck straightened up, looking at Peter pridefully as Tony took him under his wing and they all walked down the hallway, secretly rolling his eyes at Tony’s speech. Beck beamed as Tony unveiled the new suit and told Peter to prep for his press release, happy that the place would finally be a bit more lively with a kid like him around. He expected plenty of trouble to come with Peter running through these halls.

What he didn’t expect was Peter turning down the offer with a newfound air of maturity. 

Tony, Happy, and Beck looked at each other in shock as Peter walked away firmly, the teen halfway down the hall when he pivoted back and said, “That was a test, right? There’s, uh, nobody back there?”

“Yes, you passed! … Alright, uh, skedaddle there… young buck.” Tony said quickly, waving him away and Beck ducked his head away to hide his laughter. “Thank you, thank you Mr. Stark, Mr. Beck!” Peter shouted back, scurrying off, buzzing with adrenaline. When he was out of their line of vision, Happy turned to them with a genuine smile. 

“Tony, he’s a good kid.” 

Tony nodded with a soft smile, then flicked his eyes over to Beck. Beck pursed his lips, trying to hide his smug grin, before he jogged off to catch up with Peter while Tony and Pepper figured out what they were going to do with the press conference.

He found the teen waiting obediently by Happy’s car, though he perked up when he saw Beck approaching. Unable to contain himself as he walked toward Peter, Beck opened his arms wide and wrapped Peter in a hug, patting him firmly on the back. Peter leaped into it with nervous excitement and Beck laid it on thick with, “Gotta hand it to you, Peter, I wasn’t sure if you were going to see through that one. A step in the right direction towards becoming a real Avenger.”

They broke apart and Peter buzzed, “You think I did good? I wasn’t sure if I did good, I mean I was so nervous, and, God, I really wanted that suit but, I just, I just knew it wasn’t-” Laughing, Beck put Peter in a loose headlock, rocking him back and forth playfully. “Nailed it kid, absolutely nailed it.” 

Peter drank up the attention and began drilling Beck with questions about how long did he think until Peter could actually be invited to be an Avenger, and how living there worked, and what the other members were like until Happy exited the building and started walking towards the car.

“You know, I wasn’t joking when I said you really were close to Stark Industries. If you ever wanted to stop by...” Beck winked and Peter’s mouth dropped, eyes lighting up. They exchanged phone numbers, Beck promising to contact him after he’s had a bit more rest from his fight with Vulture. 

It started off with Peter sending the occasional science meme, maybe once or twice a week. He resumed his nighttime patrols eventually and began giving his updates mostly to Beck; Happy was now responding, briefly, but Beck wanted to actually hear how it had gone. Then, Beck invited him to come by the Stark labs after school and see how things were run. Peter quickly became a regular, coming by three or four times a week and staying to talk with Beck and experiment with their technology until it got dark enough for him to slip into Spider-Man and get his work done. Of course Tony would stumble upon them most nights, occasionally sticking around to show Peter some experiments himself. Tony became a bit softer towards the teen quickly, Beck occasionally smiling into his own work station as he overheard their conversations; now with a slightly more paternal tone than before. A couple times Tony invited the two back for dinner with him and Pep, who took to Peter like water, thinking he was the sweetest little thing. Beck couldn’t help but think it was an amazing turn around; after the fallout of Avengers, there was a hole he couldn’t place. To think he’d end up spending nights around the dinner table with two of his best friends and brightest kid he’d ever met… it eased the heaviness in his chest.

Beck learned a bit more about Peter’s life while they were chatting and tinkering away at some electronics. Parents were gone. Aunt May usually worked two jobs at a time, partially because she was a manic workaholic, but also because it was really important to her that she provided well enough for Peter that he never had to worry about financial stability and could instead focus on school. Overall, they were managing as working class. He talked about his best friend Ned, denied any problems with bullies (but Beck knew high school life better than that), and frequently blushed over a girl he was too embarrassed to name. Beck ended up meeting May when driving Peter home on a rainy day, and the two hit it off; as friends, Beck insisted. Tony found out and suggested, hey, maybe he get back in the game, but Beck laughed it off. Even after all this time, he couldn’t bring himself to be interested in a legitimate relationship with another woman, and he refused to casually hook up with Peter’s aunt of all people. But May became pretty enamoured with him and enjoyed his occasional visits to their place, particularly grateful that he was managing her nephew’s so-called Stark internship instead of Tony himself. Her opinion of Stark plummeted into the ground when she discovered Peter’s suit, thinking that a man already so flashy with his powers would put Peter in danger. And although Beck was also in the public eye as far as Mysterio went, she scoffed and said at least he handled it more responsibility. After all, she knew her nephew better than to expect him to give up being Spider-Man. Beck was like a safety net, a layer of protection, she thought.

One Friday Beck texted Peter not to stop by Stark Industries; he was staying home to work in his personal lab on some recreational projects. To his surprise, Peter asked if he could swing by until it was time to patrol. He opened the door and there stood a flustered teen, eyebrows furrowed and mood not quite even. “Rough day, Champ?” Beck asked sympathetically and Peter sighed quietly, letting himself be led in. Beck was just going to let Peter hang out around his lab and do his homework, but was struck with a comfortable laziness with someone keeping him company in his own home. He couldn’t help but order in food and set Peter up on the couch in front of the TV, taking the adjacent loveseat for himself. Peter knocked out to Game of Thrones before the episode even ended, and Beck made a whispered phone call to May, who greatly enjoyed the idea of Peter actually getting some sleep instead of swinging around the streets at 2am. 

Bleary eyed, Beck stirred in the loveseat, realizing he must have also knocked out for a few hours once he finished up the scraps of pizza Peter didn’t get to. The TV gave the room a soft glow and Beck retreated down to the lab to work quietly. It was a full eleven hours before Peter shuffled around on the couch, Beck being nearby in the kitchen to hear him.

“You must be getting plenty of sleep each night between school and patrols.” Beck said sarcastically, only scolding a little bit.

Before he knew it, Peter would come by often to just hang out when the streets were slow, or spend the night when Aunt May was working overtime. It wasn’t until a few months later that he realized how much the presence of the kid had changed his personal life.

Tony barged into his house, not uninvited because Tony was never uninvited, but Beck cocked an eyebrow when Tony buzzed around to snoop. “Youuu... need something, Tone?” he asked, confused as Tony opened his freezer and pulled out an armful of food. “Just checking something out honey, and oh, by the way, since when did you need twenty frozen pizzas?” Beck shrugged, a little miffed, and said, “I, uh… eat pizzas sometimes.” Tony clicked his tongue and continued, “Yeah, and chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs too, huh?” Lifting the box show off the cartoony dino drawings. Okay, not knowing where this was going definitely gave Beck a prick of defensiveness. “Well, I mean, dinosaurs are cool.” He huffed lamely and Tony gave him a deadpan stare.

The older man strode over to the living room and barked back, “And I see you’ve taken the plunge and started training to be a professional gamer, good for you Quentin. I’ll be sad to get your resignation letter.” Consoles and accessories were splayed out on the floor in front of the giant TV, and that one was harder to make an excuse for. Beck had offered to buy Peter a PS4 after he had done some work cleaning up his lab and the teen insisted nervously that that was too way too expensive and May liked to use the one TV they had at night before bed anyway, he really appreciated it but he could just play games on his computer. It didn’t take long for Beck to realize Peter got incredibly uncomfortable accepting ‘expensive’ things, even if he really wanted them, so Beck found a simple solution. Buy it and say it was for himself so Peter would enjoy it guilt free. Before Beck could even respond though, Tony crossed his arms and continued, “And if I go upstairs, I’m sure at least one of the guest bedrooms will be a teenager’s nest. Probably grubby sneakers tracking mud everywhere and a molding bag of Taco Bell.”

“Look Tony, Peter comes by sometimes and I’ve made the place comfortable for him, but this isn’t-”

“Mr. Beck!” Two voices yelled happily at the front door unlocked and swung open, both Peter and Ned running in, mouths gaping open when they saw Tony standing in the middle of the room. The two foot long lego replica of the Batmobile Ned had been holding slipped out of his hands and shattered to the floor, dead silence for a moment before the two teens burst out, “HI, MR. STARK!!” Tony quickly turned his back to them so he was looking at Beck, shot him the most irritable eye roll he could manage, before he turned back around with a smile and said, “Hey, boys, fancy seeing you round these parts. Why don’t you two scamper off so mommy and daddy can talk business?”

They nodded dumbly, scrambling to pick up their lego mess before racing up the stairs, whispering heatedly to each other ‘so cool!!’. As soon they were out of reach, Tony put his hands on his hips smugly and Beck gave a defeated sigh.

“Look, Tony, I know what you’re thinking, but-” “You know what I’m thinking?” Tony said incredulously. “I get it, Q, I really do. It’s obvious what’s going on here.” That took Beck aback, giving a blink in disbelief. “I… what?”

“It’s like a heart warming movie, a real tear jerker like Marley and Me, except instead of a dog you got Peter. He’s missing a father figure. You’re missing a… son figure. Poetic and whatnot. But Quentin,” He put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “It’s been… a while. You’re not dating, not meeting new people, and I’ll bet the keys to my car right now that those boxes with your wife’s old stuff is still taped up in the garage. If you and Peter just… have got a nice father-son thing going on for the hell of it, I’ll drink to that. But I just need to make sure you’re not using this new thing to cover up the old shit. You know, running from your demons and all that exciting stuff you're not supposed to do until your mid-life crisis.”

Beck felt an unanticipated warmth spread through his chest and he gave Tony a fond smile, not expecting that to be the motive. He held out his hand and Tony clasped it, the two men ducking into a hug. When they broke apart, Besk said earnestly, “I appreciate you keeping an eye out, Tony. But really, he’s just a really good kid. And if anything-” Beck’s voice got lower with fake irritation, “you’re definitely the favorite parent.”

Tony scoffed and rolled his eyes, but didn’t deny it. Peter treated Beck like the fun dad he could go to when he had girl troubles, but Tony was like the dad he’d bend over backwards for to get any sort of praise. “If you could hold out on the kid talk, me and Pep aren’t there yet and I don’t even want to think about it. I’ll just be on my way so you can warm up their milk bottles and read them their bedtime story.”


	8. Chapter 8

Beck wondered if he’d be able to make it up to the spaceship; he had his glass helmet afterall, and they had never tested his smoke outside of the atmosphere. It was very possible he’d be able to fly up there. They’d just left and weren’t ‘too’ far.

But he trusted Tony, Peter, and the wizard to handle things while he did damage control on earth. Residual otherworldly creatures were still roaming around, mauling cars and attacking pedestrians. He worked alongside some of the magic users in New York to get things under control, while Tony or Peter chimed in on call to give him an update every now and then. Beck tried to ignore the prickling up his spine, the numbness of feeling inadequate. If he had a stronger power, something more useful, if he was just better-

He focused on trapping the alien monsters in illusions, tricking them into fighting each other to death. Anxiety bubbled faster and faster up his stomach as he tried to remember how long they’d been gone. It had to have been a few hours…

He called Pepper who answered with a cracking voice, “Quentin, Quentin, do you know where Tony is?!”

“I was in contact with him and Peter for a little bit, Pep, but I lost it a while ago.” He shouted back, breathing deeply as he flew through the sky to sweep up the remaining enemies. 

“He’s supposed to be done with this...” Pepper said tearfully, and Beck sighed with guilt, replying with the most comforting voice he could muster, “You know him, Pep, he always wants to try and pull off one last-”

His voice caught in his throat, lungs stopping, feeling airless. “Quentin? Quentin?!” Pepper asked on the other side, but he couldn’t respond, plummeting through the air as he hit the ground in a pile of dust.

  
  
  


Everything after that was a blur. The blip back, the battle, and Peter. Grief, like fear, wrapped its hands around his throat, strangling him. He was on autopilot when the drinks started slipping back into his mouth, unable to remember where they came from or when he had started. Everyone held their tongues when he showed up to the funeral completely hungover and he didn’t care to wonder if he still smelled like the vodka he had drank just a few hours ago.

The hands on his shoulders and pats on his back felt as lightless as a ghost’s and he nodded and gave numb, polite smiles as his fellow Avengers tried to make tearful small talk with him.

He couldn’t look Tony in the eye, and Tony couldn’t look him in the eye, so it evened out. Before he knew it, it was nightfall, and Banner offered to drive him back home. Saying his goodbyes, Pepper wrapped him up in a long, tight hug, and he returned it when he felt her shoulders quiver. When they pulled apart he looked into her bloodshot eyes, taking in her sad smile. He playfully roughed up her bangs and she laughed shyly. “Come by sometime and see Morgan.” She said, almost begging. He cracked his first smile in a while and popped down on one knee to say goodbye to her.

“Bye, Uncle Beck.” She said, swaying back and forth in place, confused that she had another uncle out of nowhere. He sighed heavily, a distant smile on his face, and replied, “Bye, honey. Cook me up some of your world famous cheeseburgers when I come back.” She giggled behind her fist, nodding happily. 

  
  


Beck walked around to the front of the house to wait for Bruce to pull up the car, when he spotted Tony and the blue skinned woman have a slow, somber conversation. They then shared a tense hug, the woman seeming to not know how to hold her body or place her arms. But she relaxed into at the last second and before Beck knew it, he watched them break apart and she walked off down the road. Tony turned to head but to his house but paused in his steps when he saw his friend.

Unable to avoid it, Beck walked up to Tony and they stood in front of each other, sighing and taking in the other person’s worn face and sunken eyes. They gave an empty, broken handshake, and Bruce pulled into the driveaway. 

Heartbroken, and exhausted, and tremendously sorry, Beck turned away wordlessly and left.

His house had been untouched in the five missing years, other than some filth and exterior damage from animals. Stark security had made sure nothing was broken into and looted. He had no recollection of those blackout drunk two and a half months until Cap showed up on his doorstep. Beck sat downcast in the passenger's seat of the car as Cap filled him in; the stones were returned, they had just finished rebuilding the Avengers facility upstate, and everyone decided to put aside their murky pasts and reconcile for Peter’s sake. Everyone except Tony.

He was moving into the Avengers facility as well, per Steve’s very strong recommendation. At another time in his life, Beck might have fought it, like he fought rehab. But there was nothing left in him, and he just carelessly let whatever was about to happen, happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter you guys! Please let me know if you enjoyed this little bit on insight to a universe with good guy Beck :3 Sad to go back to Unexpected Guest knowing that universe's Tony had an even closer relationship to Peter than canon TTuTT And my sweet baby Beck


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